September 6, 2017 - A Quick One in between the Rains – Valley Creek

The best of the afternoon took an Air Lock indicator before settling on a purple pt.

The forecast today called for a 100 percent chance of heavy rain, but at 1 PM after working at home for a few hours, I noticed it had done little more than drizzle.  Apparently, some showers did hit overnight, because the gage at Valley showed a short blip.  I took a chance that the creek would still be stained, and I put on a rain jacket hoping it would color up more once the forecasted rain got started.  Yes, I left the house hoping to get rained on!

Plenty of visibility still, but better than gin clear.

The water in the park was pretty low (normal) when I arrived, though a bit off-color, but the rains never arrived to help advance my cause.  I fished about 90 minutes and managed a handful of fish on a purple pheasant tail on a j-hook.  I also turned a couple other small fish in the riffles in a few spots. 

I had to do a lot of sneaking, and I even popped on a small indicator to make a long cast to a deep flat pool with the added cover of a downed tree.  A better fish came up, popped the indicator and then took the anchor fly.  Go figure: My best fish of the afternoon was a novelty catch.  I also caught one swinging the soft hackle under some hairy structure—lost a couple flies that way too, of course.  The fish was also a better fish, though, and this time I actually caught him without any fun and games, so maybe he was worth a few bucks in tungsten???

I was supposed to get the boy at the bus stop by 4:15 PM, so I quickly ran out of time, but I was happy to tangle with a few fish and have the place to myself for a couple hours.  I got a walk in, too, hoofing back in a hurry to beat the traffic home.  Perhaps the heavy rain promised will arrive tonight.  If so, I will be ready again.  I left a lot of the better water for a better day, one with more advantageous conditions.  I have to teach tomorrow evening, but I put in plenty of prep time this evening, so I am sure I can spare a couple hours if the signs look positive on Thursday.

Worth sacrificing a fly or two?  Perhaps.

Not shy about a size 12 nymph.  I expect big things of this guy some day....